The Day a City Died
by Alexriolover95
Summary: The day of August 6, 1945, the day that the first atomic bomb was dropped, on the city of Hiroshima, from the perspective of the Americans who helped to drop the destructive weapon. For International Peace Day, celebrated every year on September 21.


**Hey guys!**

 **So, the 21th marked International Peace Day, a day which celebrates peace as well as to remind ourselves about the true cost of war.**

 **To me, nothing says better about peace and war than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands have died or been affected by radiation sickness and such for the rest of their lives by the two atomic bombs dropped on the cities, but they also remind us about the destructive cost of using nuclear weapons in war and to avoid nuclear war by any means.**

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 _"Moreover, the enemy now possesses a new and terrible weapon with the power to destroy many innocent lives and do incalculable damage. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization._

 _Such being the case, how are we to save the millions of our subjects, or to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our imperial ancestors? This is the reason why we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the joint declaration of the powers." -_ Japanese Emperor Hirohito referring to the atomic bombings

The day was August 6, 1945 a bright and clear day over the Japanese home islands, well almost clear…

A small group of American B-29 bombers were flying above Japan, towards their target, the city of Hiroshima. Now it would be very odd for only a small group of bombers to be targeting a Japanese city and certainly it was strange for the Japanese, who have been subjected to firebombing from hundreds of bombers at once over Tokyo and the other cities of Japan on almost every day. However, on one of the bombers sat a new weapon, a weapon that can potentially end the war, but also bring about a whole new level of destruction and change the world forever.

Flying behind the bomber where the weapon was stored was a bomber meant to photograph the weapon's effect, where the co-pilot, a Blue macaw named Tyler "Blu" Gunderson sat.

"How much more to go Roberto?" Blu asked the main pilot who was sitting next to him.

"We're just about to come over the city." Roberto informed Blu. "Boy, I can't wait to see what effect this weapon will have, those Jap b****es are going to be sorry."

"Do you think they'll surrender after this?" Blu asked for Roberto's opinion.

"Hopefully so, we got sweethearts to go back to." Roberto chuckled.

Blu didn't reply back, he was deep in thought about the current state of the war. With Hitler dead and the Americans, British, and Soviets finally freed Europe after the fall of Berlin three months earlier, the war in Europe was over. However, still three months later, Japan, the only Axis power left, still stubbornly held on, even with the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa firmly in control of American forces and the firebombings of the Japanese cities, as well as naval bombardments. The Japanese just won't give up.

As Blu was deep in thought, the crackle of the radio came over in the plane, it was time to drop the weapon.

"Blu, snap out of it, it's time." Roberto told Blu.

"Huh… Oh yeah sure, sorry." Blu replied back quickly.

As Blu looked on to the main bomber, he saw the weapon fall out of the bomb bay. It was a different kind of bomb, it was much bigger and seemed heavier than the normal bombs that a B-29 would drop and there was only one of them. As the bomb dropped and Blu's plane flew on, the bomb went out of sight, Blu's plane having passed over as the bomb continued on its way towards its target.

And then it happened…

A huge shockwave from the weapon rattled the air as Blu's plane shook violently for a few seconds before settling back down again. There was also a blinding flash, like a thousand cameras just took a picture all at once, temporarily blinding both Blu and Roberto as they covered their eyes with their wings until the blinding light went away and the skies were clear once again.

"That was some weapon…" Roberto commented, now a bit shaky as he still felt the vibrations through his wings.

"I'll go check on the crew." Blu told Roberto, leaving his seat to check on the rest of the bomber's crew.

As Blu walked through the bomber, he saw that the crew were just as shaky as Blu and Roberto were, thinking that they angered God or something. However Blu was most worried about his friend Alex, who was supposed to take the pictures of the weapon's effect, as Blu found Alex at his post, he found his Scarlet friend with a blank expression on, like his whole soul have been drained out of him. And this was the same Alex who flew many missions before to firebomb the many Japanese cities and never has he had this expression.

"Alex, you okay, did you take the pictures?" Blu asked, holding onto Alex's wings and shaking him a little.

"Yes I did…" Alex answered. "Blu, we… we… we…" Alex couldn't get the words out as he started crying softly.

"Alex, calm down, breathe." Blu advised his friend. "Now what is it?"

"Blu, we killed a whole city." Alex got out, Alex pointing to the plane's window where he took the pictures from.

Blu walked over to the window and looked back to see something that was not there before and was clearly created by the bomb. It was a huge mushroom shaped cloud that rose to the attitude of where the plane was and was still climbing up the sky, growing wider and wider. Blu followed the cloud downwards to see that the city of Hiroshima was completely covered in black smoke and was spreading across the land. Blu could only imagine what was underneath the cloud, he imagined every single building in the city flattened, turned to nothing but rubble and thousands, if not hundreds of thousands either killed or seriously injured by the single bomb's blast.

"You're right Alex, what have we done?" Blu commented in a whole different tone of voice.

Blu, without another word, walked back to his co-pilot seat next to Roberto, quietly as he felt his mind was completely gone, like he just died. It took a few minutes before Roberto could get Blu back to the land of the living.

"Blu, what happened!?" Roberto yelled, Blu finally snapping out of it.

Blu looked at Roberto with the same kind of blank expression that Alex had, his face completely pale as Blu replied back.

"We just opened the gates of hell." Blu informed Roberto.

And so it was as the group of American bombers flew back to base on the American controlled island of Tinian, their mission accomplished as they hoped that this will end the war. It has to, for what the planes just witnessed was pure hell on earth, a weapon was destructive it was sure to make anyone surrender right away. And at the same time, change the world forever…

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 **As stated, the first atomic bomb, "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, the blast resulting in 90,000-146,000 killed by the acute effects, the second atomic bomb, "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki, on August 9, 1945, three days later, the blast resulting in 39,000-80,00 killed by the acute effects.**

 **Over the following months, just as many died from the effects of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, on top of the already existing illnesses and malnutrition the Japanese suffered from constant Allied bombings and shortage of food and water.**

 **Japan announced its final surrender on August 15, Emperor Hirohito personally telling the Japanese people that there was no choice but to surrender to the Allies or else suffer the complete destruction of the Japanese people and home islands. Finally, on September 2, 1945, the Japanese signed the surrender terms and the greatest conflict in human history, World War II, finally came to an end.**


End file.
